US airstrikes hit northern Iran as it disables ship trying to run the blockade

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United States intensified its strikes targeting Iran early Thursday, hitting targets further north as American forces also fired into a ship it accused of trying to break its naval blockade on the Islamic Republic. Iran retaliated with missile and drone fire targeting Bahrain and Kuwait before dawn.

Days of back-and-forth strikes by the U.S. and Iran across the Middle East — and renewed threats to the Strait of Hormuz — have shredded the interim deal to end the Iran war and could tip the region back into all-out war. Already, Iranian officials say U.S. strikes have killed more than 35 people and wounded more than 300 others. Strikes also reached into areas around Iran's capital, Tehran, for the first time of this latest round of violence.

When the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Iran on Feb. 28, Tehran effectively closed the strait to shipping traffic — a move that sent the price of oil, fertilizer and many other goods soaring far beyond the region and gave Iran major leverage in negotiations.

Those rising prices pose a particular challenge to U.S. President Donald Trump and his Republican Party, which hopes to retain control of Congress in elections in November. But Washington has struggled to successfully reopen the waterway, leading to Trump reimposing the naval blockade Wednesday.

Iran’s parliament speaker and lead negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, said Iran was prepared for a fuller military confrontation if the U.S. does not live up to the terms of the interim deal, and Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard threatened to halt all energy exports from the Middle East over the blockade.

“The export of oil and gas from the region will be either for everyone or for no one,” the Guard said.

Trump again insisted Iran was ready to strike a peace deal, but he did not elaborate.

“They don’t like what we’re doing, and they do want to settle. We’ll find out whether or not we settle with them, or we just finish it off,” he said Wednesday at the U.S. Army War College in Pennsylvania.

Trump separately said on social media that Tehran made a goodwill gesture by releasing an American citizen wrongly detained in Iran since 2024. He didn’t release further details. Human rights lawyer Jared Genser released a statement identifying the detainee as his client Dena Karari, a U.S.-Iranian citizen who runs a nonprofit and was charged with espionage.

Iran did not immediately acknowledge the release and her case hadn't been publicly known, which sometimes happens with detentions in the Islamic Republic.

The U.S. strikes early Thursday hit around Tehran, state media reported. It also reported American attacks targeted Semnan province, home to Iran’s ballistic missile production and space program.

On Wednesday, the U.S. resumed striking Iran during daylight — further showing the increasing tempo of the attacks. Its attack on Greater Tunb Island, a strategic point in the Strait of Hormuz — targeted Iranian defense and missile sites, Central Command said.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military said it opened fire on the Curacao-flagged oil tanker Belma sailing toward Kharg Island, Iran's main oil export terminal in the Persian Gulf. After the ship “ignored multiple warnings,” a U.S. aircraft disabled the merchant vessel by firing a missile into the ship’s smokestack.

Another American strike Wednesday targeted a barracks for Iran’s 388th Mechanized Infantry Brigade, which operates tanks and armored vehicles, in Sistan and Baluchestan province, Iranian state television reported. The report said Americans fired at least 13 missiles in the attack and the seven dead included conscripts and career soldiers. A number of troops were wounded.

The latest round of fighting is focused on the Strait of Hormuz. How to reopen the strait has bedeviled the U.S. since Iran choked it off in the early days of the war.

During the interim deal, some ships began moving through the passage using a route near Oman overseen by the U.S. military that is outside Tehran’s control.

In recent days, Iran attacked ships using that route — and back-and-forth attacks ensued. The U.S. has threatened to reopen the strait by force — but experts say that would require a much bigger armada if not tens of thousands of ground troops. Imposing the blockade is another way to put pressure on Iran.

But in the meantime, oil prices are rising. The price for Brent crude oil, the international standard, traded above $85 a barrel on Thursday — more than 15% higher than the price before the war, but still well below the nearly $120 reached at the height of the conflict.

Associated Press writers Michelle Price, Konstantin Toropin, Will Weissert, Collin Binkley and Fatima Hussein in Washington, Christopher Weber in Los Angeles, and Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.

A billboard depicting U.S. President Donald Trump lying on what appears to be a coffin and bearing anti-Trump messages, including the phrase "We Kill Trump," is seen at Islamic Revolution Square in downtown Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, July 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

An army cadet walks past a billboard bearing anti-Trump messages, including the phrase "We Kill Trump," at Islamic Revolution Square in downtown Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, July 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A woman stands at the water's edge along the Strait of Hormuz as a plume of smoke rises in the background following an explosion, off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Monday, July 13, 2026. (Razieh Poudat/ISNA via AP)

Three boys play in the shallow waters of the Strait of Hormuz, as a plume of smoke rises from an explosion in the background, off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Monday, July 13, 2026. (Razieh Poudat/ISNA via AP)

Mourners chant slogan as one of them holds a poster of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei in a ceremony commemorating the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the Imam Khomeini Mosalla Grand Mosque in Tehran, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

NONTHABURI, Thailand (AP) — A student shot several people at a high school outside Bangkok on Friday morning, killing at least five and wounding several others, according to authorities, who said the gunman also appeared to have separately killed his two grandparents.

The shooter then took his own life, officials said.

Five school staff members, including teachers and administrators, died in the shooting around 10 a.m. at Debsirin Nonthaburi School in Nonthaburi province northwest of Bangkok, Deputy Interior Minister Polapee Suwunchwee said at the scene.

The shooter also killed his two grandparents at home prior to the school shooting, Polapee said.

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, speaking after touring the school, confirmed reports that the shooter was 14 years old and killed himself. He said the boy, who lived with his grandparents, had shown signs of stress connected to school.

The gun, described by police as small and compact, was legally registered to his grandfather, he said.

About an hour after the shooting, people stood outside comforting one another as police and first responders walked around the co-educational state school, which has an enrollment of about 3,000 students ranging from 12 to 18 years old.

A witness told reporters that students hid inside a classroom while they heard gunshots from another building before police officers knocked on the door and cleared a way for them to leave the building.

Amporn Niamfuang, who owns a restaurant roughly 50 meters from the school, said the narrow road outside her shop quickly filled with fleeing students after the shooting started.

“At first I heard just one gunshot, and there was a pause,” Amporn said. “And then there were multiple continuous shots.”

“Students were running scared and pouring onto the street. Young girls were holding each other’s hands and crying. I went inside to hide."

Bangyai Hospital, about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the school, said 23 people were wounded and 10 were in critical condition, with most suffering gunshot wounds. Earlier reports gave conflicting casualty numbers.

The school said all classes will be suspended from Aug. 10-14, and school staff are instructed to work from home in that period.

After the school shooting, police went to the home of the shooter’s grandparents but the door was locked and there was no response to their calls, regional police Commander Wattana Yeejeen said.

Officers broke the door lock and found both the grandparents had died of apparent gunshot wounds, Wattana said.

Police spokesperson Trairong Piwpan said the boy appeared to have shot his grandparents first before attending school as normal. After the class had started for a while, the boy began shooting from inside his classroom, before walking out and continuing shooting.

He said the boy fired more than 20 shots and more than 30 rounds were found on him after he shot himself.

Several family members of the alleged shooter, including his uncle and sisters of the grandfather who were at the family home while police investigated, said he usually kept to himself and was a good student.

The family members said they were unaware of any troubles he faced at home or school.

Thailand has one of the highest rates of gun ownership in Asia, second only to Pakistan but far surpassing its Southeast Asian neighbors.

Data collected in 2017 by the groups Small Arms Survey and GunPolicy.org in their last extensive international study found civilian gun ownership in Thailand was about 15.1 guns per 100 people, compared with less than one per 100 in neighboring Malaysia.

Thailand had 3.49 deaths by firearms per 100,000 people, according to 2023 statistics published by World Population Review. That puts it well behind parts of Latin America and the Caribbean, but relatively high in Asia. Only the Philippines is higher in Southeast Asia.

In February, a 17-year-old stole a gun from police and opened fire at a public high school in southern Thailand, briefly taking people hostage in a two-hour attack that killed one person and injured two others.

A 14-year-old boy was accused of a 2023 shooting at a major Bangkok shopping mall.

Jintamas Saksornchai in Bangkok and Kaweewit Kaewjinda in Nonthaburi, Thailand, contributed to this report.

A parent leaves after picking his child after a shooting at the Debsirin Nonthaburi School in Thailand's Nonthaburi province, Friday, Aug. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

First responders and others stand inside after a shooting at the Debsirin Nonthaburi School in Thailand's Nonthaburi province, Friday, Aug. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

A schoolgirl cries outside her school where deaths and injuries were reported after a shooting in Thailand's Nonthaburi province, Friday, Aug. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

A crowd gathers outside a school where deaths and injuries were reported after a shooting in Thailand's Nonthaburi province, Friday, Aug. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

A schoolgirl cries outside her school where deaths and injuries were reported after a shooting in Thailand's Nonthaburi province, Friday, Aug. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)